Serum CA153 expression and its association with clinical pathological features in ovarian cancer

Objective To investigate the expression of serum CA153 in patients with ovarian cancer and its clinical significance. Methods The preoperative serum levels of CA153 and CA125 from 49 patients with ovarian cancer （group A） and 62 patients with benign ovarian lesions （group B） were retrospectively analyzed and then compared with the postoperative pathological findings. Results The preoperative serum CA153 level was significantly higher in patients with ovarian cancer than in those with benign ovarian lesions. The sensitivity of CA153 for diagnosing ovarian cancer was 40.827% and the specificity was 96.77%. The specificity of CA153 was significantly higher than that of CA125 （P〈O.05）. Serum CA153 level in ovarian cancer patients was increased as the progress of FIGO stage, but decreased as the progress of differentiation of tumor cells. The positive rate of CA153 expression was significantly lower than that of CA125 expression at the early stage （stages Ⅰ- Ⅱ ） of ovarian cancer （P〈0.05）. Conclusions Preoperative detection of serum CA153 is helpful in the diagnosis of ovarian cancer. The higher preoperative level of serum CA153 expression, the higher risk of poor prognosis of ovarian cancer. Key words: Ovarian cancer;  Carbohydrate antigen 153;  Carbohydrate antigen 125